Dragon Encounters

Combat scenarios for every monster, allowing them to utilize their combat potential to the fullest for the first time ever.


ADULT BRASS DRAGON & Uses for a Powerful Non-combatant

minions/allies

Combat rating 16

 

1 Adult brass dragon (CR 13)

1 Gorgon (CR 5)

6 Berserkers (CR 2)

 

Combat rating 18

 

1 Adult brass dragon (CR 13)

3 Ankylosauruses (CR 3)

1 Gynosphinx (CR 11)

 

Combat rating 21

 

1 Adult brass dragon (CR 13)

2 Guardian naga (CR 10)

2 Shield guardians (CR 7)

 

Combat rating 23

 

1 Adult brass dragon (CR 13)

3 Air elementals (CR 5)

3 Djinn (CR 11)

 

Reasons it Won’t Join the Quest

I begin my article with reasons why the dragon doesn’t just do the quest instead of the players, this being one of the most common problems with good-alignment monsters.

  • The brass dragon is often heavily involved in business, local politics, and/or society. While it will go after villains when and if it has to, it doesn’t see that as its job, and won’t want to spare the time from its normal activities to take care of a problem that others can solve. (It might offer the players a reward to handle it themselves.)
  • The dragon won’t believe the players about the problem, or its extent. It’s easy to imagine that many adventurers exaggerate, both to make themselves seem tougher and to ask for help more easily, so even if your players don’t do that the dragon will have met too many adventurers who do.
  • If the enemy seems like someone that can be talked to, the dragon will prefer to negotiate (and will keep this up far longer than the players will care to). Otherwise, like any businessman, he’ll prefer to hire other people to take care of it for him. (This can include the players.)
  • When all else fails, have the dragon demand a price, or share of the loot, that it higher than what the players will want to pay. (This is probably better off being used together with another idea than by itself.)

How to Use – Neutral friendly

The brass dragon is a non-combatant when possible. There are numerous other ways to help and hinder players, however. We’re going to look at some of them.

The brass dragon likes spending time with people. Combined with his long lifespan, greater than human intelligence, and dragon ambition, he is likely to be wealthy, influential, or at least connected to people who are. How can this help you?

Information Gathering & Player Agency: The brass dragon will agree to look into matters of interest for the players. However, he only has so many agents capable of securing the type of information the players need. Prepare 3-4 subjects that they might be interested in, and have information ready for them when they return 1-2 weeks (and several sessions) later.

This will let the players feel that they have more agency, and connect them more deeply to the story. It will also give you another way to share information about the world and the plot, and will get them more interested in it as they chose what to get.

There is always a danger that they’ll come up with their own questions, but you’ll have several sessions before you have to answer them. You can sometimes find ways to add information into the response, as long as it isn’t too obviously the information they didn’t ask about. Otherwise, you’ll give that information to them a different way.

Long-term Investments: Have the dragon offer to look into acquiring items, or other necessities, for them. More abundant, and thus cheaper, healing potions, spell scrolls, or anything else they already buy are also possibilities. Again, come prepared with a list of 3-4 choices, and be prepared for them to ask for other items. You don’t have to say yes. (These can be quest rewards, or just general presents as they level up.)

Connections: The dragon is unusually well-connected. When they need to meet with an NPC for assistance, have the dragon give them a choice of NPCs to meet with, or a couple of different ways that they might approach a single NPC who they need a favor from. While it isn’t a guarantee, the best way to introduce an NPC main character would be if they both chose to meet him and had to expand effort in order to do so.

Meeting the villains: While not something you can do with all villains, if your villain is able to give the impression of being reasonable, or has a lieutenant that can, it can be fun on occasion to give the players and the villain the chance to meet and talk in a setting that will prevent it from becoming a trap or a battle.

A note of warning: While your players might come up with ideas for the conversation on their own, you can’t depend on it. Accordingly, don’t do this without a plan for what the villain (or his representative) is going to say to them.

One idea is to have him approaching the dragon and trying to persuade him of something. Then the dragon calls in the players, to let them present their side of the matter. A different idea is that he comes to negotiate with the players, so he can feed them false information. (If you want them to fall for it, have most of the information be true, except for one part, which isn’t so much false as distorted.)

Tying Up Loose Ends: Sometimes a quest ends with a few things you don’t want to handle, such as rescued captives who need a place to stay, a town or village that the players decided to build or adopt, or just a villain organization that you don’t want to waste time mopping up. Have the dragon handle most of the pesky details, and perhaps give them a decision to make every so often if they stay interested.

Just make sure that the players are ready to move on. If they want to spend more time dealing with the former captives, trying to take it away from them will only bring resentment.)

Side-quests: While an obvious choice for a long-campaign, or any sandbox, you can use this as part of a lesser campaign as well. Side-quests don’t have to be a different quest, it can be an additional objective for the quest that they’re going on anyway.

Ideas include: Finding a certain treasure, which will force them to negotiate for information mid-quest; making certain to kill a certain villain; making certain to spare a certain villain; accepting a voluntary time-limit (the dragon needs something accomplished or retrieved before a certain time); or rescuing/protecting hostages/NPCs.

Even though they might do the last on their own accord, this lets you tie it to a reward, and gives you an excuse to provide advance information.

You could also have the quest simply consist of an extra room that they have to clear (In order to retrieve a treasure, kill a villain, etc.’.) If they’re in a position where they can’t long-rest any time they like, one extra room can add a significant challenge.

Neutral Unfriendly

While the brass dragon is good-alignment, that doesn’t mean that he’s always friendly. There are plenty of ways to spin it so that he objects to the players’ activities, especially if he doesn’t believe them about the threat.

All you need is to combine disbelief with some reason as to why the players activities are inconvenient for him, and you’re golden.

This approach is mostly suited for a cloak and daggers type scenario. It means that the players have to be subtle in what they do, find ways to spy on the villains’ activities inside the city instead of confronting them directly, be careful what information they reveal, and make sure not to be caught doing anything that would violate the law or offend the dragon.

If they get caught, the first time the dragon will probably either require them to do a small quest as a form of community service, and/or banish them from the city. After that, you could have the dragon imprison them (and make certain to give them ways to escape), or confiscate some of their treasure and/or items.

As they’ll really hate this last one, make sure to limit the number of items the dragon takes. Have it be a slap on the wrist punishment, meant to dissuade them, not to cripple them. Either that, or have the confiscation be temporary, with an assurance that they’ll get it back if they behand themselves for enough time. (Of course, the plat shouldn’t allow them to just do nothing until that time arrives.)

Another consequence is that people will be more hesitant to deal with them, especially if the dragon is popular, which will mean that their market access will be a lot more limited.  This could result in having to pay more for food, potions, etc.’, being unable to always get everything they want (or only be able to get it in limited amounts), having to wait some time between making the purchase and getting the goods, or any combination of the above.

This could also make it harder to buy services, or talk to people for information.

You might consider placing ways for them redeem themselves, especially if they’re finding the situation bothersome. Give the dragon various goals that the wants to accomplish, and let the players know about them.

They don’t have to be direct quests. For example, the dragon might want to connect with certain people, either for business or social reasons, and if the players help these people out, they can the goodwill to introduce them to the dragon, assuming they think of it. In addition, as the players gain fame and good reputation for their good-deeds, there will be social pressure for the dragon to reconsider.

I want to mention in passing that a lot of people seem prone to black & white morality, which means that once a side-character becomes opposed to the main characters, they get painted as evil in every way, or as hopelessly inept. If you’re going to have a good person opposed the mail characters, it would seem to me more interesting if you can keep them as good.

To do this, find a way for us to identify them as good. Let a different side character have a story to tell about the dragon rescued them from danger, or poverty. (If you want your players to listen, keep it short, and connect it to the main quest).

Let them interact with a hospital or orphanage that the dragon built/funds. (Interaction means that they have to do something connected to it, such as handle a dispute. Simply narrating that they spent time inside does not count.)

In addition to giving a more nuanced, more realistic, deeper world, this will also force the players to think more carefully as to how they want to deal with a dragon. After all, it’s one thing to assassinate a creature labeled as good, and another thing when they know that killing him will cause orphans to starve.

Combat Encounter: (difficulty 16)

As was already mentioned, the brass dragon is not a combatant by choice. He won’t want to face the players in combat if he can help it, and should it be necessary, he’ll try to choose the location, and he won’t hesitate to bring assistance.

There are several methods he might use to get the players to meet him in a location of his choice. The simplest is to challenge them to battle it out, either with a messenger or by making a public announcement daring them to meet him in battle. As he won’t be giving the challenge in person, he can just state the location as part of the challenge and hope that they take the bait.

A second method would be by getting his hands on something that they want. He could name that as the prize of the challenge, or he could “Hide” it and let its location slip to a few people, then wait to attack the players when they show up to grab it. He could also lie about having it in the first place, although this will infuriate your players.

The third method is to post watchers on an area that the PCs will be interested in. If the watcher catches them coming in, he has time to get there with his retinue, and wait for them to come out.

Once they meet the dragon, have the dragon place wooden platforms with narrow arrow slit windows around the of the battlefields. (If you prefer, you can do it more subtly instead. If the players are meeting the dragon for a formal duel, have the allies split and run for cover on their first turn. [The dragon is surely entitled to have as many on its side as the players.])

The allies are spellcasters, and they’re there to buff the dragon and mess up the players.

(Personally, I’d go with debuffs like slow and hold person, instead of damage. This will both let the dragon shine, and most likely infuriate the players more than direct damage. Unfortunately, a lot of buff spells require touch. Solutions are to give them familiars, to use sorcerers with the distant spell metamagic ability, or to have them buff the dragon once and then cast other spells from hiding.)

The spellcasters are in different locations, so if the players split up, and send individual members to take down each spellcaster, the dragon can use its sleep breath and there won’t be a nearby ally to wake them. (Sleep breath feels like something that should be able to go through even narrow openings.)

Several of the hiding places should contain illusions instead of actual spellcasters. The also contain hidden traps, such as sticky floors and falling nets. If the players go together to take on the spellcasters, let them step into the trap and then use the dragon’s fire breath to turn the area into an inferno that they can’t easily step out off.

Summary: Six Ways to Use

The brass dragon can fight, and will if he has to, but that isn’t something it wants to do. This dragon is a non-combatant by choice. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t numerous ways to use him [or similar civilian NPCs] in your campaign.

  1. The Dragon has Connections: Instead of setting up their meeting an NPC, give them a choice of NPCs, with pros and cons to each. This will most likely increase the interest they have in the NPC, given that they chose to meet them.
  2. The Dragon Mediates Disputes: While your villain won’t repent, this is a wonderful opportunity to let the players meet the villain, while a powerful third party prevents both sides from immediately attacking/backstabbing.
  3. The Dragon Needs Investors: Have the dragon involve them with building up the city, or the like. It increases immersion if they have a personal stake. Make sure to give them decisions, though, not just quest requests.
  4. The Dragon has Requests: In addition to side quests, spice up the main quest with optional extra goals. Ideas include collecting specific items, killing a specific villain, sparing a specific villain, rescuing a hostage, and an optional time limit.
  5. The Dragon has Biases: To use the dragon as an obstruction, give it interests that are incompatible with the PC’s goals. They’ll have to hide or disguise their actions. Penalties for failure include the dragon raising the price of potions and the like.
  6. The Dragon has Assistants: When fighting the dragon, give it spellcasters casting out of nearby windows. If they send a PC to attack them, have the dragon use sleep breath, with nobody near the waken that PC. If they go in a group, use fire breath. 


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About Me

I’ve been a DM since I was about 10 years old. (Not of D&D, admittedly, but still.) After growing bored of fights that were all the same, dungeons heavily populated by one monster type, and a general shortage of ideas, I figured I’d embark on my own trip through the Monster Manual, one monster at a time. Feel free to join the quest.

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